The Penobscot Valley Conference-Eastern Maine Indoor Track League large-school championships represent the last dress rehearsal for the state meets a little more than a week away.
There’s also regional bragging rights at stake, which rivals Bangor and Brewer shared Saturday night before an appreciative crowd at the New Balance Field House on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono.
Led by junior sprinter Anna Connors and senior distance runner Megan Randall, the victorious Bangor girls totaled 175 points to 111 for second-place Brewer. Old Town (47 points) was third, with Mount Desert Island (33) and Ellsworth (26) completing the top five.
Depth in the shot put and pole vault propelled the Brewer boys to victory, with the Witches amassing 46 points in those two events alone while racking up 112 points overall. Hampden Academy was second with 68 points, followed in the top five by Old Town (57), Ellsworth (53) and Bangor (49).
Connors swept the 55-, 200- and 400-meter dashes, setting facility high school records in all three finals in addition to an EMITL record with her 25.43 clocking in the 200.
Her time of 7.24 seconds in winning the 55 dash was her fifth personal best for that event this winter, while Connors’ 57.87 clocking in the 400 was just two-hundredths of a second off the league mark.
“It’s definitely been progressing well,” said Connors of her indoor season. “Every meet I’ve gotten a PR in the 55, which I think is just because of my training and getting used to the mask and the facility. It’s worked out really well.”
Randall starred in the longest races, winning the mile in 5:11.75 and the 2-mile in a facility-record 11:03.12.
Bangor senior Camden Lavoie captured the shot put with a best of 36-4, and the Rams also swept the relays. Sophia Mazzarelli, Alivia Mitchell, Allison St. Peter and Jenna Elkadi won the meet-opening 4×800 in 11:03.95 and Madeline Thai, Maddie Cyr, Evelyn Humbert and Callie Tennett led the field in the 4×200 in 1:52.62.
Brewer got victories from Lauren Vanidestine in the triple jump (32-11) and Ainsley Reid in the pole vault (9-0), while Old Town had a double-event winner in Grace Willey, champion in the long jump (16-0) and high jump (4-10).
Freshman Amelia VanDongen of Mount Desert Island captured the 800 in 2:30.31 while senior Paige Sawyer of Ellsworth won the 55 hurdles in 9.16 seconds.
The Brewer boys scored 24 points in the shot put – one of the first events to be completed – to surge to the front of the team standings as Dylan Greenlaw (45-1), Stephen Cummings and Colby Largay finished 1-2-3.
Brewer later fielded four of the five competitors in the pole vault, with Pablo Garcia and Liam Cormier tying MDI’s Daniel Freudig for first place at 9 feet and teammates Evan Chambers and Kegan Allen finishing fourth and fifth to provide the Witches 22 more points.
“I picked [the pole vault] up this year,” said Garcia, a junior who also placed second in the 55 hurdles and fifth in the triple jump. “I was just joking around with a friend at practice, then my coach actually thought I was really good at it. From there I just started getting better and better and now I honestly think it’s one of my strong points.”
Hampden’s runner-up finish was paced by senior Abbott Valentine and junior Charlie Collins, who led the Broncos to the Class A cross country state title last fall.
The duo began their 38-point evening by finishing 1-2 in the mile, with Valentine timed in 4:26.53 to edge Collins by 0.95 second.
“I was going for around that time and we were clicking off the splits and it felt great,” Collins said. “Sitting behind Abbott is a blessing and a curse because you’ve got to race against him, but he’s a great, consistent runner and he really pulls you through if you want a fast race.”
Collins then won the 800 in 2:00.70 before Valentine scored his second victory of the meet with his 9:40.28 clocking in the 2-mile, some 58 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.
Junior Raymond Brickle, who entered the day with the sixth-fastest seeding time in the 400, beat that effort by 1.53 seconds to win the event in 55.12.
Old Town junior Corbin Flewelling scored 30 points on his own by sweeping the long jump (21-3 ¼), triple jump (42-10 ¼) and high jump (6-2).
James Cote provided the Coyotes their fourth victory with his time of 8.61 seconds in the 55 hurdles.
Bangor was led by sophomore Gage Jones, who won the 55 dash in 6.81 seconds and finished third in both the 200 and 400, and the first-place 4×800 relay team of Quinn D’Alessio, Adam-Miller Treat, Henry Poulin and Ethan DeMerchant (9:01.77)
John Bapst of Bangor won the 4×200 relay as Benjamin Mock, Dalton Plummer, Gilman Taylor and Hunter Clukey combined to finish in 1:38.20.
Sophomore Miles Burr of MDI won the 200 in 23.22.
